William Arkin is Not a Happy Camper

In today’s online column Washington Post military affairs blogger William Arkin writes about “Vigilant Shield” which is the latest military exercise being run by the Pentagon. He calls it “particularly childish, a massive waste of money and an insult to the country” because it focuses on nuclear war with Russia — not exactly one of our main threats today — rather than any of the very real problems we are more likely to face:

One might think that NORTHCOM would be focused like a laser on preparing for another Sept. 11 or another Katrina, working through the details of just dealing with the obvious. Alas, some bomb going off somewhere, some natural disaster, doesn’t justify missile defenses or other big ticket items like submarines, nor satellites and “early warning,” nor the new tricks of cyber-warfare.

Want to know why the armed forces are hurting for soldiers and Marines? The few on the front lines defend the freedom of the extravagant in the Pentagon, the consulting world and defense industry to make billions.